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CLEVELAND—Positioned for a three-game sweep at Progressive Field, the Blue Jays came up short, losing 6-4 to the Indians to finish their nine-game, three-city road trip at 5-4. It was a mixed bag of success and failure.

Following the Jays’ win on Saturday, manager John Gibbons had suggested it was about time for his team to get “greedy” and sweep a series. The obvious inference was that no longer should his team be satisfied with a mere series win — two out of three games. If they are serious about winning, his Jays need to sweep some series when they put themselves in that position.

On Sunday, the Jays failed to take care of that greedy piece of baseball business, missing out once again on their first sweep of any kind in 2014. They failed earlier at home against the Astros. In fact, the last time a Gibbons team swept a series was Sept. 6 to 8, 2013 at Minnesota.

With Brandon Morrow able to complete just five innings plus one batter in the sixth, it was up to the resurrected bullpen, freshly redeemed from Thursday’s debacle, to finish the job. Morrow has been frustratingly inefficient in his four starts — no fewer than 86 pitches but no more than six innings.

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“They had a lot of tough at-bats,” Morrow said of the Tribe’s ability to stay alive. “They fouled off a lot of good pitches, 3-2, 2-2. I wanted to come out today and just be really aggressive. We had great weather. I wanted to get back to being aggressive. I felt good. I had good stuff today.”

The Jays pen has worked more innings now than any other in the AL except the sad-sack Astros. On this day, left-hander Aaron Loup entered for Morrow and allowed three walks, followed by a three-run double by lefty swinger David Murphy. The pen’s 39 walks rank second to the White Sox.

The bottom line is the Jays were in a position to win this game and let it get away. The winning record on the road trip and the bunched up standings are great consolation, but bench coach DeMarlo Hale knows they need more. They are 1-5 in the final game of all series.

“The good teams, you go into a series, let’s get the first one,” explained Hale of the greed strategy as the Jays were taking batting practice.

“You look at managers. They manage to win every game, but think of that first game (vs. the Indians). Both managers used four pitchers out of the bullpen. They were just matchup, matchup, let’s get this one, let’s get the first one. And then you get the second one and, hey, you win the series.”

There might be some questioning of Gibbons’ Game 3 strategy of lifting Morrow in the sixth inning after 95 pitches, following a leadoff single by Nick Swisher. But Loup and the rest of the bullpen were well-rested and the middle of the Tribe order was coming up loaded with lefty hitters.

“Gibby runs a good bullpen. He runs a good game,” Hale said. “He’s conscious of the use of guys. You go in saying this guy might be for only one batter, two batters, a situational lefty, we can’t extend him. But I look at this game, you’ve got a strong, (rested) bullpen. Do we want Morrow to go into the seventh or eighth? Absolutely, but you’ve got a day off (Monday) and you’ve got a chance to sweep.”

And that’s what unfolded. The Jays were poised and came up short.

In his second game back from a hamstring injury, Jose Reyes doubled down the right-field line to lead off the fourth, advancing to third on a single by Melky Cabrera, who has hit safely in 17 of the club’s first 18 games. Jose Bautista lined a single to right field for an RBI, giving the Jays the lead. Brett Lawrie’s ground ball to shortstop produced a third run, negating a Michael Brantley homer.

The Jays gave up a run immediately after taking the lead — the ninth time in 35 scoring opportunities that they have failed to shut down an opponent after scoring, according to Jays’ PR staff. Morrow issued a one-out walk to Jason Kipnis, then Brantley doubled to right-centre.

The Jays made the margin two runs again in the fifth on an RBI single by Reyes, scoring catcher Josh Thole from second base. Thole was catching for Dioner Navarro, who may end up having three days off with R.A. Dickey pitching Tuesday and Thole behind the plate.

Then came the Loup fiasco. With a two-run lead, Canadian John Axford entered for his sixth save of the year, getting an Edwin Encarnacion grounder to end it with the bases loaded.

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